Re: Vandals Big time up Pleasant Canyon
Posted by kris on January 06, 2004 at 13:47:51:
In Reply to: Re: Vandals Big time up Pleasant Canyon posted by Savoir Faire on January 05, 2004 at 16:30:50:
I dont want to hijack this thread, I feel it is always a tragedy when anything in the backcountry is vandalised or distroyed. I often worry about my own vehicles when left in remote places, and it is a shame to worry about when Im there to enjoy that same remoteness.
But I feel the need to address Mr. or Ms. Savoir Faire's comment on the destruction of a "riparian zone" in Pleasant Canyon.
I will now paste testimony from the Congressional Record dated May 5th 1994 by California Senator Dianne Finestein.
Note this is the same Dianne Feinstein that has been in the Environmental Lobbys pocket for most (if not all) of her career...
[Congressional Record: May 5, 1994] I agreed with this amendment, and I excluded the same lands from wilderness designation in S. 21 when I introduced the California Desert Protection Act in January 1993. I am pleased the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee concurred with this decision and these areas are not designated as wilderness in the bill reported by the committee and passed by the Senate." So you see, your "riparian zone" was excluded from wilderness so that companies like Manele Bay could explore the regions mineral assets. The road that travels up Pleasant is just that, a road. The "tire shredding metal mats" you refer to are there to reduce erosion in that "riparian area" so there will be less need to continually blade that section. Dont let your un-balanced, mis-informed environmental emotions cloud the fact that this has been a legal right of way for over 100 years, and the plants and animals that you would put before humans are doing just fine. Manele Bay has complied with BLM regulations in the use of the right of way to access the World Beater properties. If you dont like it, then thats fine. kris.
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
THE CALIFORNIA DESERT BILL AND THE BRIGGS MINE
"Mr. President, on April 13 the Senate passed S. 21, the California Desert Protection Act. I would like to take this opportunity to explain section 106 of the bill.
In 1991, when the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs marked up H.R. 2929, a forerunner of S. 21, certain wilderness areas in the southern Panamint Range that would have been designated by the bill were eliminated--Middle Park Canyon Wilderness--or reduced in size-- Manly Peak, Surprise Canyon, and Slate Range Wilderness Areas--in order to allow mineral exploration and development on the affected lands.
That road is in the condition today that your beloved Senator Finestein wanted it to be in for the purpose of exploring for mineral wealth.
The fact remains that they are working within the law, and you are always welcome to write letters and contact your elected officials to attempt a change of policy.
Until then this is the way it is. Name calling will not change the world...